[Chuck] sent me this How-To on building your own custom Guitar Hero controller. I love the idea – the stock controller is a bit small for me. This one was built for a Child’s Play fund-raiser, so maybe you can score it and help get some games to some kids in need.
Remember, there are just 20 more days to get your entry in for the Design Challenge!
Just a quick update to yesterday’s Wiimote bluetooth hack. [steve] pointed out [CarlKenner]’s release of a windows driver. Let us know how this works. Looks like you have to use the slightly deprecated/abandoned PPjoy to get the joystick functions working.
So, if you have a HTPC, maybe the Wiimote could make an interesting home theater remote? (I use linux on mine these days. The windows display drivers kept breaking)
[Ozan] sent in his first attempt at making his own heads up display. The optics are very simple in design, and he gutted a commercial heads up display (ICUITI) for the LCD panel and interface electronics. I haven’t played with many head mounted displays since the Nintendo virtual boy. I’m not up on my field of view calculations, so it’s difficult to equate this to a commercial headset.
[duff] found this and sent it in. The video demonstrates that the Wii ‘sensor bar’ is just an array of IR leds. The actual sensor is in the remote control – which probably sends data to the Wii via RF. These guys faked the ir signal using a pair of standard remotes. This’ll probably open the door to some controller cheats as things progress. [Better than using a belt sander on a trackball.]
[Hey – If you want to get on the podcast, email some questions or comments as mp3s to podcast at hackaday.]
This is another power control hack along the lines of the serial controlled power outlet. Instead of only managing a printer, [Brent] uses the IO lines of the parallel port to drive some SSRs in order to turn off all of his peripheral devices – think lamps, speakers, scanners, etc. He posted the whole thing over on instructables.
[Want to show off your skills? Send us a tip with your latest – or enter the Hackaday design challenge. I should have some more prizes to announce later this week. I’m just waiting for them to arrive.]
[Bart] sent in his efforts to recover the flash data on a mysterious mp3 player he found laying about. He successfully built an interface using a AVR/ATmega setup to get access to the data. This could be a viable way to recover data from broken thumbdrives – but it’s probably easier to swap the flash chip onto another drive. The Chipquik stuff sounds interesting – cold SMD chip desoldering. Given the cost, I’m not sure just how cost effective it is compared to buying a rework station.
[If you haven’t already, check out the Hackaday Design Challenge Fabienne’s nano is one prize and I’ll be announcing more prizes as soon as I’ve got them in hand.]
In case you haven’t caught it already, check out this DIY Wacom Cintiq – AKA Wacom pad LCD tablet. Drew Northcott built his own for a couple hundred in parts. It’s a cool hack – I figured I better put up an extra post before I my inbox gets filled with it. Thanks for the tips guys!
